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No HELP for nurses
Proposed student loan threshold will
“unfairly handicap” nurse graduates.
By Dallas Bastian
P
rospective university students might be turned off a career
in nursing under changes to university loan repayment
thresholds, the Australian College of Nursing (ACN)
has warned.
The college said the move might exacerbate anticipated workforce
shortages – a dearth of 125,000 nurses by 2030 is predicted.
Debate around legislation to reduce the minimum repayment
threshold from $55,000 to $45,000 at a 1 per cent repayment rate
will continue when parliament returns from its six-week winter
break. The dollar figure is up from the $42,000 proposed in last
year’s budget.
Liberal senator James Paterson recently told parliament
that HELP lending has grown rapidly with the expansion of the
demand-driven system.
“The amount accessed for HELP loans has increased from just
$3 billion in 2009 to $7 billion in 2016,” Paterson said.
“The fiscal challenge for the government is that HELP
repayments have not kept pace with HELP lending growth.
From 2010–11 to 2016–17, the level of new debt not expected
to be repaid increased from 16 per cent to 25 per cent.”
Paterson said the measures in the bill are modest but fair and
added that they will ensure the income-contingent loans program
remains sustainable for future generations of students and taxpayers.
But Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward, chief executive of ACN, said
pushing nurse graduates to repay their university loans before
establishing permanent and secure employment is “unfairly
handicapping graduates from realising their potential”.
It would also add to the pressures that students training to be
nurses currently face, Ward said.
“People enter nursing because it is a vocation, not for financial
gain, but we still have to ensure this vital workforce is able to live
on their salary.”
Labor’s Murray Watt rose in the Senate to oppose the Higher
Education Support Legislation Amendment (Student Loan
Sustainability) Bill 2018.
Watt said: “Let’s remember that, by and large, the only students
who are taking out loans to undertake higher education are those
from lower and middle-income families.
“If you’re fortunate enough to come from a rich family, you’ve
got parents who can pay … your HELP loans. But it’s working-class
and middle-class kids who are being faced with the prospect of
having to repay their loans at a much earlier stage of their career
while they are also trying to save up for other things like a house
or a family.”
During the debate, South Australian independent Tim Storer said
the lower loan repayment threshold is preferable to other higher
education cuts, so that future students entering tertiary education
would have the same opportunities and quality of education as
those already in the workforce.
Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young opposed the
move, saying the government would prefer that nurses, teachers
and early childhood educators “went off and did their university
degrees, started paying back their loans and then shut up and
weren’t heard from again”.
With women making up more than 90 per cent of the nursing
workforce, ACN added that the move would, in the main, unfairly
disadvantage working women.
“We must invest in nurses at all stages of their careers to ensure
Australia has a sustainable nursing workforce,” Ward said.
“Education is an integral aspect of ensuring that Australia has
the healthcare workforce that it needs to properly care for its
community. Investing in our health services and workforce is
investing in the health of our population.” ■
agedcareinsite.com.au
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